Speech Buddies

Its been quite sometime since I first read about the advent of speech buddies. I was so thrilled to learn about such amazing advancements in the speech therapy world!

Speech Buddies are a set of revolutionary tools that help in correcting specific articulation                               ( pronunciation) errors. Specifically made for the 5 most common erroneous speech sounds - R, L, S, CH, SH.

They work on the principle of tactile biofeedback.They help users to learn where exactly to place the tongue inside the mouth to produce the specific speech sounds.Each speech buddy uses targets to help tongue placement and coordination. There is tons of researched data highlighting the success stories of speech buddies in the western countries.

Speech Buddies can quickly help children turn their Wabbits into Rabbits, Wessons into Lessons, and Thocks into Socks!

Parents can choose to use Speech Buddies at home with their child or bring their Buddy to speech therapy lessons with the goal of accelerating learning and correcting problem sounds.

Visit www.speechbuddy.com for more information.

I have ordered my set of speech buddies and I cant wait to use it with my clients :)

Four magical words!

There are four magical words that I always carry in my speech bag, and they are - 
one, two, three, start!
As you can guess, this set of words can be used every time you want your child to do an activity or start any action (even talk!)
This set of words if used carefully, can even entice and motivate a non talker to jump on her first word! Just like other words in the speech therapy world, its more about how and when you use them than what they mean.
The magic begins when the child hears the word - 'start'.. the numbers ( 1, 2, 3 ) act like a preparatory set for the child to get ready for some speech.
You can start by preceding any exciting activity by these words. For instance, speak out these words and do something that the child loves ( sing her favourite song, toss her in the air, swing on your arm, play peek - a- boo etc). The idea is to reinforce this set of words when the child is happy and automatically she would learn that something new and exciting will begin soon.
I use these words before starting any sort of game/activity/rhyme etc with the kids. They can just read my eyes and wait for me to say the word 'start'. You will often find that kids start copying you by saying out these words out loud in unison with you.
Consistency is the key like always. You might have to use these words hundreds of times before your child understands what you are aiming at. 


Keep going :)

Tongue Aerobics

Tongue is one of the busiest muscles in a Speech Therapist's body :) 

Talking, Tasting, Swallowing, Chewing, Singing ...all are possible because of this dynamic muscular oral organ.

I do a lot of 'tongue aerobics' with kids who need to exercise their tongues to elicit clearer speech. Here is an insight -

Home based activities to develop tongue protrusion (Sticking the tongue out)

• Push or show how to push your child's tongue against an object like - a flat spoon, tongue depressor, an ice cream stick, cheerios on the plate etc.
• Ask your child to balance a cheerio/crax/small fried onion ring/ a piece of chocos cereal ( anything small and light) on the tip of her tongue.
• Play an imitation game of poking the tongue out like a snake. Sit in front of the mirror and encourage your child to copy you.
• Encourage your child to lick foods from a plate. Get all messy with stuff like ketchup/chocolate syrup/honey/ sweetened malai/ kheer/ yoghurt etc. Your child should use her tongue and not the lips..
• Encourage licking of stuff mentioned above from a spoon.Use colorful spoons to draw your child's attention to the activity.
• Encourage your child to lick ice creams - sundaes/softies/choco bar etc
• Place food stuff ( mentioned above) on the lips and ask your child to lick them. Get innovative with your little one's favourite sticky foods and use them in this game which works best while played in front of a mirror.. Mom does it, and then the baby does it..

Tongue Retraction ( Pulling the tongue in)

• Use difficult to blow whistles/party horns etc
• Encourage longer and sustained blowing -- like blowing bubbles
• Drinking with different sized straws. Use thinner liquids first and then move on to thicker shakes and smoothies. The Krushers at KFC is ideal for thick shake sucking. I even like their fat straw :)

Tongue Lateralization ( Moving the tongue from side to side)

• Licking sticky foods from the corner of the mouth.
• Put small bits of melt in the mouth foods like - chocolate buttons/ crackers/orange candies etc
• Show your little one how to chew with molars ( back teeth). Use crunchy foods like carrot sticks/ onion/raddish salad/sprouts/soup sticks etc

Tongue Tip elevations ( Lifting the tongue)

• Get your child to lick from a plate wth sticky food placed in front of the face.
• Dab a long line of chocolate sauce on the lip line and encourage your child to lick it all at one go with his tongue tip.
• Tongue Lifts - Think youre a weight lifter and youre lifting cheerios with your tongue..how many can you lift and how fast??
• Open your mouth a little, then slowly lick around your lips in a circle, clockwise and then anticlockwise. Ask your child to imitate
• Open your mouth a lot and repeat the aforesaid.
• Try touching the nose with your tongue tip.
• Try touching the chin with your tongue tip
• Do the nose and chin touch consecutively. Do this 3 times.
• Poke your tongue into your left cheek and then into the right cheek.. Repeat 5-6 times.
• Clean your teeth with your tongue
• Make faces in the mirror. Ask your child to copy you :) Children love this !

Practical Ideas to develop better tongue movements from a mother's point of view :)

• When spoon-feeding your child, place  the food centrally on the  tongue and apply firm  downward  pressure. This will reduce tongue  protrusion that occurs during swallowing.
• As the protrusion reduces, place the food at the sides of the mouth, between the teeth. This will encourage munching and sidewards tongue movements. 
• To stimulate biting, munching and sidewards tongue movements.
•  Initially, do this at times when your child is relaxed.
• Initially, these activities should not be done at mealtimes. 
• Use items such as teethers (ridged etc.), foods that do not break up (bite & stay firm  foods - Dried fruit: bananas / peaches / apricots etc
• Place the item in the mouth, between the teeth, along the line of the jaw and  ensure that  it  is not placed  so  as to  stretch the lips.  Do  not  place too far back in case your child gags.
• Place on the best side initially, than move to the other side.
• If the child is not munching, pull the item out slightly and gently or press down.
• When you feel your child is confident about  their biting  skills, introduce food items. Initially use bite-and-dissolve foods  (Glucose biscuits,Crax, etc.). 
• If the child is not biting off the food, break it off for them while they are biting down on it. Do not force your child to take foods that their mouth is not ready to handle.
• Over time, gradually introduce chewier foods in the same way.

The magical world of Bubbles...

Bubbles are magic! Yes they truly are.. For kids and even for the little kid hiding inside an adult. Bubble fun is my favourite activity in speech therapy sessions. You can do so much with these little popping blobs.. Be it with infants, toddlers, preschoolers or even little older children, the floating, hopping, knocking bubbles work wonders.

I have found that--

• Bubbles are great to break the monotony of a therapy session with the kid. You can see the child's eyes glow at the sight of the bubble toy. So when you feel its getting boring doing the repeated activity with your little one, get the bubbles out!
• They are perfect tools to improve eye contact. Blow one at a time and in front of your face, this way the child tends to look more at you.
• They also help in developing visual tracking skills.
• You can encourage children to learn more words while playing with bubbles.. simple words like- up, down, more, pop, big, small, many, few, near, far, yes, no ...and so on can be focussed upon. You just need to consistenly repeat these words while playing with them.
• You can practice "blowing" skills (important oral motor skill for speech development) with bubbles.Children also learn rounding of lips during this fun activity.
• Popping the bubbles teaches cause and effect relationship.It also helps in fine motor control of finger pointing.
• This also instills the habit of turn taking. You blow and the child pops. Then you switch roles. Simple!
• Blowing bubbles in front of a big mirror helps in teaching imitation skills too.
• Simple instruction following can be another motive behind taking up this activity.. " pop the bubbles" , " pop the smallest one", etc.
• Bubbles can be used to teach "how to make a request". "Can I please have one more!"
• You can use them to make the child respond yes/no..
• The concepts of size, number, color etc all can be taught with the floating bubbles.
• Bubbles can be used to teach better breathing control hence you  indirectly work on improving the strength of abdominal muscles of speech.
• When the bubble hits the child on his body, you can also revise body parts.
• They work as super rewards for children of all ages.

I use different types of bubble tumblers. Children especially like flashy and  attractive ones. I have a variety of shapes with me...sunday ice cream,ice lolly, fish, butterflies etc. They all work beautifully!

Check out some intersting bubble activities cum recipes here!

Smell Box, a speech therapy tool?!

Vision, Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell, Vestibular and Proprioception are the 7 horses of our sensory system that interact with each other to make us use our bodies effectively in the environment around us.It is indeed intriguing how these different senses integrate in our body to provide information. By such sensory integration, these sense organs indirectly help us to gather opportunities to communicate better!

Extrapolating this idea, I have tried using visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory kits during my therapy sessions to elicit speech.

On this page I will share about the 'Smell Box' that works wonders for kids who exhibit problems of insufficient expression of language.

The Smell Box can be made at home. It basically consists of 2 classes of odors. 1 pungent and strong and the other mild and sweet.

Pungent odors come from

• petrol,
• old scrappy food,
• mustard/horse raddish sauce,
• grated raddish,
• asafoetida(hing in Hindi),
• naphthalene balls,
• dettol/savlon,
• salmon omega & other strong tablets
• garlic etc.

Mild smelly items can be

• aromatic massage oils,
• mild perfumes,
• strawberry/apple jam,
• mild talcum powders,
• sugar,
• mithai,
• flower petals
• aromatic candles
• and most importantly your child's favourite food item, (chocolates, biscuits ) etc..

You can store all these items in similar looking little boxes, name/ tag each of them and store together in a bigger box.

The smell box can be used to elicit Yes/No response from your child. The pungent odors will lead to modelling out - No, while the mild sweeter odors lead to a Yes response.

I have observed  that children pick up 'No' response very quickly through this activity with the smell box. You can start by accepting gestures for yes/no and later graduate to verbal attempts.

You can also build your child's language by talking about the different smells in our environment.

Another game that you can play with the smell box is, identification of the source of the smell without looking at the box in which the stuff is stored. You can blindfold your child while playing this and even take turns. Great activity to build vocabulary, improve sentence formation, and teach turn taking.

So go try this tool now.I'm sure you yourself will have loads of fun doing this activity!